Earlier this week, TIME magazine's award-winning photojournalist Patrick Witty photographed the beheading of this young Syrian by Islamic jihadists. Mr. Witty wrote:

The man was brought in to the square. His eyes were blindfolded.... The crowd began cheering. Everyone was happy.... I saw a scene of utter cruelty: a human being treated in a way that no human being should ever be treated....

I don't know how old the victim was but he was young. He was forced to his knees. The rebels around him read out his crimes from a sheet of paper. They stood around him. The young man was on his knees on the ground, his hands tied. He seemed frozen.

Two rebels whispered something into his ear and the young man replied in an innocent and sad manner, but I couldn't understand what he said because I don't speak Arabic.

At the moment of execution the rebels grasped his throat. The young man put up a struggle. Three or four rebels pinned him down. The man tried to protect his throat with his hands, which were still tied together. He tried to resist but they were stronger than he was and they cut his throat. They raised his head into the air. People waved their guns and cheered. Everyone was happy that the execution had gone ahead.

That scene in Syria, that moment, was like a scene from the Middle Ages, the kind of thing you read about in history books. The war in Syria has reached the point where a person can be mercilessly killed in front of hundreds of people — who enjoy the spectacle.

As a human being I would never have wished to see what I saw. But as a journalist I have a camera and a responsibility. I have a responsibility to share what I saw that day. That's why I am making this statement and that's why I took the photographs.

So, are you ready for the knife? Am I ready for the knife? The Islamic knife, cold against our throats, ready to cut off our heads — a dhabihah worthy of Allah! Are we ready to stick our necks out for Muslims, or will we try to hang on to our lives in this world, and thus perhaps lose our lives for eternity?

As recounted by Mr. Witty, the young Syrian seemed to be facing death calmly at first. But once the knife came to his throat, he began to put up a struggle, he tried to protect his throat, he tried to resist. That makes me wonder about how I would fare being in his place: would I squeal like a pig, or will I find the grace to follow the example of Yeshua (Isa, Jesus):

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7b)